Big Stakes (DVD)

Mercedes Aloyez (Elinor Fair), the daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher, is doomed to marry the treacherous Captain Montaya when a wild Western buckaroo (J.B. Warner) saves her from a spill. The cowboy falls for the señorita, but while meeting for a nighttime rendezvous, they are captured by the Captain's soldiers and brought to task. If either one of them is to survive, the cowboy must best the Captain in a race between Mexican jumping beans. BIG STAKES is a fun and rip-roarin' ride across the plains of Western cinema and, for its time, a complex look at Mexican and American stereotypes. This new edition comes with D.W. Griffith's controversial yet forgotten short film RAMONA (1910) starring Mary Pickford.